NBA Draft Lottery 2012: Destiny Set to Send Anthony Davis to New Orleans Hornets

Call it what you want,—a conspiracy drummed up by the NBA to reward the franchise it owned until recently, or the random chance of a ping pong ball bouncing—but Anthony Davis is all but signed, sealed and delivered to the New Orleans Hornets.

And the symmetry of it all makes too much sense, though I'll let you decide if fate (or commissioner David Stern) had anything to do with it.

For one, Davis was last seen playing meaningful basketball in New Orleans, where he led Kentucky to an NCAA title by beating Louisville and Kansas in the Final Four. A more permanent return to the Big Easy, then, makes a ton of sense.

Whether or not Davis turns the Hornets into a winner remains to be seen. What's clear, though, is that New Orleans was fortunate to essentially steal the No. 1 overall pick from under the noses of the Charlotte Bobcats, who endured the worst season in NBA history by winning percentage and still couldn't secure the top spot.

Of course, this wasn't the first time the Crescent City usurped the Queen City in a sporting respect. After all, the Hornets used to play in Charlotte, but skipped town for New Orleans in 2002 following a startling decline in attendance, precipitated in large part by the poor personnel decisions of former owner George Shinn.

As far as conspiracy theories are concerned, there's always the suspicion (though unfounded to this point) that delivering the top pick to the Hornets was Stern's way of repaying the favor team owner Tom Benson did him when he took the franchise off the league's sullied hands.

Whatever the case may be (and whatever you choose to believe), Davis will probably return to the Big Easy rather than start anew in Charlotte, where he would've had the opportunity to play for the man (Michael Jordan) who dominated the NBA for his hometown Chicago Bulls.

So, for all you conspiracy theorists, there were strings to be pulled in just about every scenario.

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